Harpoon issue: US says Pak has agreed for 'mutual inspections'

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Sept 1 (PTI) Responding to "serious" American
concerns about illegal modifications made by Pakistan to the
US-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles that could target India,
Islamabad has agreed for "mutual inspections" of the weapon
system.

This was disclosed Tuesday by US Assistant Secretary of
State for Public Affairs P J Crowley, who said that the Obama
Administration has taken up the matter with Pakistan.

His comments came two days after the New York Times
reported that Pakistan had illegally modified the Harpoon
anti-ship missile to expand its capacity to strike land
targets for potential use against India.

"This is something that we take very seriously. We
have raised the issue with the Pakistani Government. The
(Pakistan) government has responded with an agreement in
principle for mutually agreed inspections," Crowley told PTI
when asked about the Times report.

"In this particular case, we have some concerns. We
shared them with the Government of Pakistan. The Government of
Pakistan has been responsive," he said, adding "we would wait
and see if those inspections can address the concerns that we
have raised."

The newspaper, quoting unnamed Administration officials,
had said the US also accused Pakistan of modifying American-
made P-3C maritime surveillance aircraft for land-attack
missions in a violation of the American laws, including the
Arms Control Export Act.
"I am not going to talk about specific issues, brought
up in the story. We watch this closely. These are important
agreements. This is not about any one country. With any
country with which we exchange our defence articles, we have
this kind of agreement," Crowley said.

"When we have concerns about how those systems should
be used, we raise these concerns with the appropriate
governments," he noted.

The violations by Pakistan were first noted by the
American intelligence agencies on April 23, The New York Times
said, when Pakistan had an unannounced suspicious missile
test, that appeared to give the country a new offensive
weapon. Pakistan has denied those charges.

The modified version of the missile would be a
significant new entry into Pakistan's arsenal against India as
these would enable its small navy to strike targets on land in
India, this complementing the sizable land-based missile
arsenal that Pakistan has developed, it had said.

The Congress is in the final stages of taking a decision
on providing USD 7.5 billion in civilian aid to Pakistan in
the next five years. The latest expose has the potential to
"derail" this, the daily said.

Crowley said the Administration is keeping the Congress
fully informed on this issue. Asked if this would have any
impact on the future of US aid to Pakistan, he said, "I would
like to take one step at a time. We have raised some concerns.
It has been done at the highest levels over lengthy period of
time. As we gain more facts, (we) will understand its
potential implications." PTI LKJ